China tariffs announced on food products

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) further ratcheted up trade tensions by announcing a 10 percent ad valorem duty on US$200 billion of Chinese imports. The list covers 6,031 tariff provisions, spanning a range of goods including textiles, machinery, food, and others. The Federal Register notice can be accessed here. This is the latest volley between the United States. and China, which started with USTR levying a 25 percent tariff on US$34 billion worth of Chinese imports due to "unfair Chinese practices” including forced technology transfers and industrial policy. China immediately retaliated on US$34 billion worth of imports from the United States, and the United States responded with the most recent tariffs plus threats on an additional US$300 billion in goods.

If implemented, combined U.S. threats would effectively cover all Chinese imports, as China exported US$505 billion of goods to the United States in 2017. Requests to testify on this latest list of tariffs are due 27 July, written comments 17 August, and rebuttal comments 30 August. There is no implementation date set yet, but it would be sometime after the 30 August deadline.